


The Ice in your Soul

by GeMerope



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Implied Future Romance, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29433225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeMerope/pseuds/GeMerope
Summary: Two enemies are stuck in a magical snowstorm, both want to make it out alive.Based on the prompt: 'It's winter. You ask me about love and I tell you about violence'
Relationships: Harry Potter & Voldemort
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58





	The Ice in your Soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Adams_Riddle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adams_Riddle/gifts).



> Here is a small fic that got in my head after reading a writing prompt on tumblr.  
> Happy Valentine's to you all (although it's admittedly a coincidence that I finished this on Valentine's day)
> 
> I hope you will enjoy this story.

The storm was deafening. Trees creaked under raging shards of ice that tortured their branches. Harry shielded his eyes – glasses already cracked and lost in a drift of snow. He could barely breathe, throat stinging each time he attempted to draw a gulp of air. How far into the Forbidden Forest were they? Where had his enemy gone to?

Ron and Hermione had been right – he shouldn’t have agreed to this. Voldemort had made him walk right into a deadly trap. But how could he have refused with everything at stake? Stumbling, Harry fell to his knees and tried to hold onto the borrowed wand for dear life. Only days ago, he’d escaped from Nagini in Godric’s Hollow and lost his precious holly wand. It wasn’t enough to make him pause however, he couldn’t afford to. Even blinded, deaf and numb, he’d not surrender. This wasn’t the first time he was in peril and it would most certainly not be the last.

‘’Come out, you coward!’’ Harry screamed, lungs burning. The swirling snow swallowed his words like the gaping maw of a monster from the deep. He groaned, trying to think of what he could do. It had been snowing before, but nothing like this. Surely, it was an elaborate curse placed by the Dark Lord. Voldemort was known for overlooking obvious solutions though. Maybe simply trying to find his way back to the edge of the forest would be his salvation.

Harry turned around to do just that, then realised he’d lost all sense of orientation. He couldn’t even make out his fingers when stretching out an arm, his footprints had already disappeared under another thick layer, and there was no way a ‘point me’ could be cast without the wand being swept away. With chattering teeth, he attempted to produce a fireball. The stubborn wand created a few lacklustre sparks that were extinguished instantly. It would be nice to follow that example… to stop struggling, lull into sleep and let the fate of the world rest on someone else’s shoulders…

_No!_ he angrily thought. This was exactly what Voldemort was after, getting him to crack under the pressure and give up. Knowing he needed to keep moving to not freeze to death – a valuable lesson he’d learned when locked out of the Dursleys’ home one cold Christmas night, the teen moved his body with willpower alone. Whether he was going deeper into the forest or getting closer to Hogwarts again didn’t matter as much as staying alive. Powerful though he may be, even a Dark Lord could not maintain a curse of such massive scale and force forever. Harry only needed to hold out long enough…

It felt as if he ploughed through an ever-thicker icy blanket for hours, every patch of skin wet and burning, muscles screaming in protest. His resolve wavered as minutes ticked by, only the encouraging faces of his friends in his mind enabling him to go on. One foot in front of the other foot… one at a time. One at a-

He tripped over a long, dark shape and landed face first into sharp needles of ice. Feeling dizzy, Harry took a moment to gather his bearings. The moment was broken when what he had thought to be a snowed-in, fallen tree, moved. Even before his brain had caught up, Harry had scrambled backwards, looking with horror at the man who’d invited him into this forest to die. A pale arm rose slowly, trembling before falling weakly to the ground again. The exhausted Gryffindor rubbed his eyes to ensure he wasn’t hallucinating or dreaming, but the image didn’t disappear. Splayed in front of him lay Voldemort, robes frozen stiff and body barely moving.

All he felt was numbness where elation should be. He didn’t grasp what was going on. Why was Voldemort succumbing to his own curse? This was not a scenario he had prepared for and all attempts at piecing together a logical explanation failed him under the heavy weight of fatigue. He’d expected this to be over when encountering the Dark Lord, one way or the other.

The only thing he knew for certain was that he couldn’t continue much longer like this. And as much as he hated to admit it, Harry was not powerful enough to shoulder this storm alone. Weak as he was, Harry would need Voldemort if he wished to survive. Their feud must wait till after.

With renewed resolve now he had an inkling of a plan – use their combined powers to ease the strange magic at work here, Harry brushed the snow off Voldemort as well as he could and started dragging the man out. He was incredibly lightweight for someone 6 foot tall. Even Ginny was heavier. Still, weight wasn’t everything and moving both of them was difficult when the other didn’t help at all. With no little amount of satisfaction, Harry hauled the man’s upper body up and slapped him hard across the face. ‘’Wake up!’’ he yelled. It helped that his vision was so blurry that he couldn’t read any particular expression. ‘’You want to live so badly that you killed innocents for it, so don’t you dare die now!’’

A faint grunt reached his ears, which was enough of a sign of life to Harry. Without waiting for more, he grasped Voldemort’s wrist and started tugging the Dark Lord away from the spot they’d lain in before, feeling around with his free hand to find higher ground and raised tree roots. Maybe if they’d reach a spot where the trees were thicker, they could build a shelter with their combined forces. Yes, there was a feasible idea! Much of the forest consisted of evergreens, if they could cut some branches with a few well-placed spells… Harry was practically blind without his glasses, but if Voldemort would tell him in which direction to shoot… He pushed the thought away that the man wasn’t to be trusted, that he may well attempt to use this to assassinate Harry. There was no other choice but to put a semblance of trust into the Dark Lord’s fear of death. Said Lord was indeed moving now, going into whatever direction Harry pulled him in.

After struggling for a couple more minutes, wind howling in his ears and snowflakes crusting onto his eyelashes to impair his limited vision even further, Harry finally found a tight spot between three thick trees. As soon as he let go of the wrist, which was just as cold as the cutting air around them, Voldemort slumped down against one of the trunks, clearly struggling to breathe, head lolling to the side. With numb hands, Harry clapped in front of the serpentine face to wake the other again. ‘’Oh no, I’m not going to let you get away so easily!’’ he growled. A hint of red became visible, it seemed that Voldemort had cracked open one of his eyes.

‘’Ha… rry. You… what did… you do…’’ the Dark Lord spoke, breath rasping. The teen needed to lean in far closer than he was comfortable with to hear it properly,

‘’No time for talking, can you see anything? I want to shoot down a couple of branches to protect us from the snow. I need you to steer my aim,’’ he yelled back, hoping desperately that this would work. The other jerked as if pained. Maybe Voldemort was less deaf than Harry was… though the comfort of a murderer was rather low on Harry’s list of priorities now, so he forcefully took Voldemort’s hand and waved it around. ‘’I have enough energy to cast a diffindo – I hope. I need you to be my eyes!’’ If the man couldn’t do this, or wasn’t willing to, they’d surely both get snowed in forever. Sharing a grave with his arch-nemesis wasn’t exactly how he was willing to leave this earth.

Burning up every reserve of energy that was left, Harry shot cutting curses in the directions the Dark Lord guided his hand in, with the result of satisfying creaks as branches heavy with pine needles broke off and fell into the snow around them. Not knowing exactly how to make a useful shelter, Harry precariously balanced the branches against the trees around them to form a wall and a slanted half-roof. It worked better than expected, stopping the worst snow. It created a small haven against the biting storm, even if the cold did not diminish.

‘’Secure… them.. better,’’ Voldemort growled with difficulty. ‘’That won’t hold.’’

‘’Well, I don’t see you trying!’’ Harry snapped, finally having had enough. ‘’Maybe you shouldn’t have conjured this monstrous storm in the first place!’’

A bitter laugh escaped from the Dark Lord’s lips. ‘’You think I…? Why would I cripple myself, Potter?’’

Harry shuffled a bit closer, annoyed by that he couldn’t read Voldemort’s face, seeing only a white blur. ‘’What do you mean?’’ he asked, confused. ‘’You can’t expect me to believe that you aren’t responsible for this! Who else- oh no!’’ Harry groaned as the other was proven right, one of the branches slipping from its position. The walls tumbled down on them. Voldemort grunted tiredly, attempting to hold up one of the branches with his arm. Harry wondered why he didn’t use magic, surely he could not be **that** weakened. Even Harry, who was arguably much less proficient and experienced with magic, still had had a bit of energy left for simple spells.

It took a few minutes for Harry to gather enough strength to attempt raising the walls again, although he doubted that they were more stable than last time. He tried to stick the ends deeper into the snow, but his muscles protested too much to be very efficient. ‘’Can’t you do anything?’’ he angrily asked, giving a glare over his shoulder.

‘’Not like this,’’ the other sighed, eyes closed again. ‘’Cold… it’s too cold…’’

‘’How did you get stuck in this anyways, if you claim you weren’t the one to call forth this blizzard?’’ he asked, still not sure to which extent he believed it. ‘’Surely you could cast warming charms or a fire or… or fly away,’’ he suggested, thinking of the time the Dark Lord had chased him across the London skies. ‘’You were already in here when it just started, right?’’

He received no answer. At first, Harry thought it was stubbornness, then he noticed that Voldemort really was far too still. ‘’Shit,’’ he muttered, panicking as the man slumped to the side again. This was absolutely the worst possible moment to have his enemy die on him. Harry still planned on making it out alive, thank you very much. What bothered him most was why the other was so weak. Wracking his tired brain for a while, it suddenly dawned on him. The few times he’d felt Voldemort’s skin, it had been cold like a serpent’s. If he’d truly took in those properties and had cold blood, then he couldn’t properly function in cold weather. Even if he regularly negated it by warming charms or the like, it appeared that something about this storm made it impossible to produce heat. Maybe it hadn’t only been Harry’s lack of energy and the unfamiliarity of the wand that worked against producing fire.

Taking a deep breath to step over his own pride and disgust, Harry carefully moved closer. The only source of heat here was his own body now. It felt as if he embraced a block of ice, and Harry closed his eyes to pretend he did, for it was more bearable than the truth. Was this really the best way? Would it not be better for them both to die here if it meant ridding the world of a tyrant? It would be incredibly selfish to save this man just to save himself…

On the other hand, Harry was supposedly the only one who had the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. They had the sword of Gryffindor now that enabled them to destroy the Horcruxes, but they hadn’t found all of them yet. It had been pure bad luck that Harry had been discovered while searching Hogwarts. Maybe he should have gone along with Hermione’s suggestion and tried to gather more information on other possible locations first. If Voldemort would indeed perish today, he might return soon enough, without Harry there to stop him once again.

He clung on tighter, thinking of all the people who relied on him, conflicting thoughts in his mind making it impossible to make a sensible decision. More than anything, he wished to live in peace after the war was over. He couldn’t recall the last time that Hermione’s face hadn’t been creased in worry, or the last time Ron’s smile had reached his eyes. Ron… after months, he finally had his friend back. Would they lose sight of each other forever after only a few days? The thought was unbearable.

There was still so much left to live for. He couldn’t die here. And so, neither could Voldemort.

‘’Neither can live while the other survives, huh?’’ he whispered to himself. ‘’Looks like Trelawney was full of crap after all.’’

‘’Is that how the Prophecy continues?’’

Harry jumped at the slurred voice. If his entire body hadn’t already been frozen, perhaps it would have felt like ice flooded his veins.

As soon as he let go however, Voldemort made a strangled noise. ‘’No!’’ the Dark Lord muttered hastily. All arrogance and snarkiness was gone now, which was what made Harry halt most of all. He battled with himself whether to take pity or not. With any other person, he’d likely be filled to the brim with compassion now, but this was **Voldemort** , the one who’d killed left and right in his quest for power, who allowed Dementors to sweep through the country, who’d made up the sick system of identifying and hunting down Muggle-borns and who set his followers up to making Hogwarts student practise Unforgivables on each other. The scared and broken faces of the D.A. would likely haunt Harry’s dreams long after this war was over.

‘’You can have warmth,’’ he thus spoke. ‘’But you’ll have to pay for it. Every minute is one promise you’ll have to keep. One request I can make of you.’’

A high cackle reached Harry’s ears. ‘’You’ve learned, Harry. You’ve learned that there is no selfless mercy. What would Dumbledore say now, if he saw you barter like this instead of doing the noble thing by offering a helping hand?’’

‘’Do you accept or not?’’ Harry asked harshly. He did not wish to give his heat and energy to this despicable man, but if he had to do so to survive, everyone may as well get something out of it. Voldemort had principles, yet he’d step on anything he’d built up if it meant survival. Deep inside, the Dark Lord would let fear rule his every action if it came down to choosing between humiliation and death.

Voldemort was silent, pondering for a moment. ‘’I accept,’’ he finally sighed, as Harry knew he would. With a hint of triumph, Harry resumed their previous position, clasping his arms around the taller man. The chill numbed his fingers to the core instantly. Leaning his head on Voldemort’s shoulder to make this position easier to hold, he counted down the seconds.

‘’Promise you will publicly admit that Muggle-borns do not steal magic. You know it’s bogus.’’

‘’Ah, Harry… such a pointless promise,’’ the Dark lord spoke, sounding almost disappointed. ‘’Everyone knows that is convenient lie. Do you honestly believe that something needs to be true to be used against an enemy?’’

Gritting his teeth, the young man didn’t react, counting down sixty seconds more. In his head, he compiled up a list of points he needed to change. ‘’Abolish the Muggle registry,’’ he said next with chattering teeth. How long would it take for all warmth to be sucked out of him? How many promises could he get Voldemort to make until Harry would collapse?

He fought to stay awake sixty seconds longer after every demand he whispered into the Dark Lord’s ear. Release the Muggle-borns from Azkaban. Order Greyback to step down, remove the Death Eaters from Hogwarts, have a democratic election in the Ministry again, detain Umbridge, forbid the Unforgiveables, limit the Dementors to their island, dissolve the Snatchers… Meanwhile, the snow  
  
kept falling, the branches that had sheltered them before becoming thick walls of ice. After the seventeenth wish, Harry noticed his lips had gone too numb to move. He tried to speak, but produced only a croaking sound. As Harry tried to open his eyes again, he noticed it was impossible, crystals forming on his lashes and keeping them shut.

‘’All your wishes were so selfless…’’ he heard Voldemort say. The voice was stronger than before. ‘’Is this the power of love the old man spoke so highly of? Why do you put yourself below others?’’

He was too frozen to react, wishing he could give the man a piece of his mind. The one he’d been clinging to stirred and moved. Although he could not see, Harry felt that he was the one being embraced now. Something warm was pushed against his lips, thawing them again. ‘’Love?’’ Harry breathed bitterly when noticing he could speak once more. ‘’It was buried beneath the sorrow you spread. I held love up like a shield before. But you brought up a sword and hacked away until you destroyed my resolve to even try. My capability to feel love was damaged beyond repair, lost in your violence. You brought out the worst in every person you met. And you **enjoyed** it.’’

‘’The worst…’’ the other muttered. ‘’Even you?’’

‘’Even me,’’ Harry admitted in silent acceptance. The Locket had caused him to almost lose Ron and Hermione, made him disagreeable and moody. The war that seemed to go on endlessly had made Harry grow up in ways he had never wanted to, ready to fight at every turn. ‘’What I am asking of you, to undo your mistakes, is not out of love. It’s simply my responsibility.’’

‘’Nothing I promised you will change this world, Harry. Maybe I brought out the worst in those around me, but I only found what was already there. People are flawed, corrupt and greedy. It will remain that way for eternity. Look at me.’’

‘’I cannot.’’

Another sigh and hint of warmth, a hand placed over his eyes melted the ice, drops sliding down Harry’s face. ‘’How…?’’ he asked.

‘’It appears the purpose of the magic wrought in this place was to eliminate all heat. Everything in this part of the forest slowly had it sapped out of it and producing more was impossible, as you saw with our attempts to counter it. Magic is a wonderful thing though, it at the very least sustained your natural body heat long enough to survive. Something you now gave to me… My warming charms disappeared too fast at the start to carefully retain any, I was careless… No longer.’’ Triumphant, Voldemort showed that his palm glowed. Harry tried to lean in to get some of it back. The hands felt good as they touched frozen skin, the miraculous way that someone as proficient as the Dark Lord had found a way to bend the laws within this accursed white hell was admirable. Harry curled up closer, shivers wracking his body as the numbness lessened.

‘’Why aren’t you ditching me?’’ he finally dared ask, realising how the situation had turned around. He’d banked on the older wizard getting enough strength back to find a way out of here, but Harry hadn’t expected to feel **this** drained. Voldemort had taken away all of his body heat in order to amplify it. He could have left the forest on his own by now, leaving Harry to perish under the snow. ‘’I told you the prophecy…’’

Blessedly hot hands took his blue fingers. ‘’So eager to die… perhaps I really should kill you here and now.’’ A hand grabbed him with more force than he’d expected Voldemort to have left. Revitalised, the Dark Lord rose and dropped the Gryffindor on the frozen ground. ‘’One minute, that makes one promise,’’ the man darkly chuckled. ‘’Surely, playing your own game is fair?’’

Harry gaped up, limbs tingling as they threatened to lose that delicious heat. The drops that had slid down his cheeks earlier solidified again within seconds. It was him who was pleading now. The teen let out a strangled cry as he realised that nothing even bound Voldemort to his word. What if all those promises had been empty? ‘’What- what do you want?’’ he finally asked, seeing no other way out.

‘’You were lying before,’’ Voldemort mused. ‘’I can tell when people lie to me, Harry. Tell me the truth about this supposed power you’ve been blessed with that I do not know.’’

Lying? Harry had thought those words had been the absolute truth. All that had driven him this past year had been the weight of knowing others depended on him, even people he’d never even met. It wasn’t only about his friends anymore, or their families… **Was** this love? he wondered. Could it be called that, to have unconditional faith in the rest of humanity despite all of its flaws? It was the way that the Dark Lord’s tone had shifted from mockery to genuine curiosity that compelled Harry to honour the request best he could. If he wouldn’t, why would the other even try the begin doing as Harry had asked? ‘’Maybe you are right,’’ he started with difficulty. ‘’Maybe there is something left. Love is… a force of good that cuts through darkness. If memories of happiness are enough to chase away Dementors, then memories of love could surely accomplish much more. For years, I clung onto the hope that some good was left in you, Tom. If you’d stop fighting and allowed yourself to feel… The truth is, I refuse to believe that you are incapable of feeling love.’’

~ _You **dare** …~_

‘’Are answers really worth the prolonged existence of your enemy?’’ Harry taunted. ‘’Just now, you showed mercy, you should know what that means.’’

‘’You’re being ridiculous. I will leave now, I will leave you here to die!’’ Voldemort spoke, sounding worked up.

‘’Do that…’’ Harry muttered, closing his eyes again. ‘’But you’ll regret it.’’

Voldemort was silent for a few beats. Then, the walls of pine were roughly shoved aside, one falling onto the teen’s unmoving body. ‘’Neither can live while the other survives, was it? Thank you for telling me, Harry. Your life force will serve me well.’’

The Gryffindor smiled sadly. He’d planted a seed of doubt in the unmoving heart of the Dark Lord himself. Hopefully that was enough. He let his eyes slide close again, unable to keep up the struggle.  
  


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A fire crackled merrily, the flames practically scorching despite being further away. Harry blinked and sat up, a thick duvet sliding off. ‘’Ron? Hermione?’’ he called out. The last thing he recalled before blacking out was watching the Dark Lord leave while he himself was being buried alive in the Forbidden Forest. Had the Order come to his rescue? Had the storm stopped after Voldemort left? Who’d been responsible for it in the end?

Looking around, Harry deduced that he was in a cabin as the walls were all made of wood. Through a foggy window, he saw trees, ones that thankfully weren’t evergreens. With a gust of wind, the front door opened, and the sight made the Gryffindor wish to freeze again. He patted his pockets fruitlessly to search a wand to defend himself with now that Voldemort was no longer at his mercy.

‘’You… what did you do? Why am I here? Did you want to torture me before offing me, after all?’’ he shouted in desperation.

‘’Cease this talk of violence, Harry,’’ Voldemort demanded, sitting down on the bed Harry had just jumped up from. ‘’And tell me more about love.’’


End file.
